keith ehrlich / director

filed under consume

Stumptown Coffee Roasters of Portland, Oregon made their presence felt in NYC a few years back. They now have a cafe in Manhattan and another in the industrial neighborhood of Red Hook in Brooklyn. They’ve just released a bottled cold brew beverage with packaging designed by Jesse Whipple Vickery. I just hope it tastes as good as the bottle looks.

Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks The World tells the story of a simple electronic foot controlled device that changed the face of music. The film covers everything from the accidental advent of the technology to it’s marketing, and landmark moments of it’s integration into popular music. This 60min documentary is a must watch for music nerds and guitar freaks alike.

I came across the work of wood sculptor, Jason Tennant on Etsy. His material is sourced from fallen trees that he finds in the area surrounding his cabin which is located in the Finger Lakes region of New York. I want the wolf piece.

Save for the wet weather, San Francisco has kindly ingratiated herself upon me during my two week stay. While I didn’t have a chance to walk the Golden Gate Bridge or stroll the corridors of Alcatraz, I did manage to eat, eat, eat (and drink too). I’ve come to two conclusions about the cities food. First, one would have to possess an extremely awful stroke of misfortune to happen upon a bad cup of coffee here. Second, it would be a crime if I didn’t share the names of the more memorable establishments that I had the pleasure of visiting.

CoffeeFour Barrel Coffee // I’m not sure where to begin; I guess its with the roasting. The rear half of this large, refurbished factory space boasts a separate roasting operation. The roasting machine looks like something out of City of Lost Children. Regular coffee is produced in small batches with a french press. Specialty coffees are made by one of two baristas who operate their stations with a sort of second-nature precise skill. More expensive bean varieties and other brewing methods are to be had at another counter. The space is fantastic - think taxidermy, industrial seating, lots of wood and metal, big open space. Every employee is not only uniquely charming but worthy of a second or third look. In fact, coffee mugs are sold at the register adorned with illustrations of each worker’s likeness.

Ritual Coffee Roasters // While I’m writing this very posting from their location in The Mission, a group of people standing around a table behind me are being instructed on the finer points of coffee tasting. The spacious cafe boasts lots of tables with Eames-style bent plywood chairs and makes for an inviting place to hunker down with your laptop all day.

DrinkingMagnolia Pub & Brewery // The food at this pub located in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood is pretty tasty. They go through a full pig a week making different kinds of sausages but the real reason to visit is the beer. Their brews which are made in the basement are all that you will find on tap. The selection of over a dozen beers which are constantly in flux include cask-style recipes and are only available at the pub.

The Residence // Delicious Manhattan’s are to be had at this Duboce Triangle watering hole. The atmosphere has a sort of deco vibe about it.

Bourbon & Branch // This establishment located in the heart of the Tenderloin is created in the spirit of an old speakeasy. You’ll need a password and reservations to get into the main bar. Seatings are limited to two hours. A separate library room is hidden behind a bar wall panel and is available on a first come basis, as space is available. This place is all about mixology, creating some of the finer drinks I’ve had the pleasure to sip.

Mission Bar // a perfect dive bar in the heart of The Mission. A happy hour round of 4 pints cost me a wopping $10.

EatingTartine Bakery & Cafe // You’ll go for breakfast and never want to eat a pastry from anywhere else again. Tartine is well known for their bread selections and chocolate croissants. The quiche is rather fantastic as well. I suspect everything they make is fantastic.

Farm:Table // Right off the bat - why is nobody doing this in NYC? The cafe is small and simple. They serve breakfast and lunch. Inside, there is just one table that seats up to 8 people. Two more small tables are located out front. Each day the menu changes with a new version of just three or four choices - an egg sandwich, a toast, a homemade cereal. I had sliced hardboiled eggs on pieces of baguette with crumbled bacon, feta, and scallion oil. They brew beans from Verve Coffee Roasters of the Bay Area. To find out the daily menu changes, visit their twitter feed which is also posted on their website.

R & G Lounge // Despite the unconvincing name, this is the place in San Francisco’s Chinatown that you will find yourself waiting for a dinner table. The prices are a bit higher than you would generally expect to spend on Chinese food but worth it. Where else are you going to find deep fried, salt & pepper dungeness crab?

Foreign Cinema // It would be easy to walk by this restaurant and have no idea from the outside that it even exists. Chefs with several years of experience cooking in the kitchens of Chez Panisse and Zuni Cafe created this wonderful eatery. Yes, it will cost you a few bucks and yes, its worth it if you have a few bucks to spare. Everything is impressive - the service, ambience, food and drink alike. While I dined next to a cozy warm fireplace, the courtyard looked like a rather unique experience; a rotating schedule of classic cinema is projected on a large wall.

Home // this is the place to go for really good comfort food in San Francisco’s Duboce Triangle neighborhood.

Swell // I was staying just two blocks from this quaint little spot. The rain was coming down hard and I wasn’t about to run around town for a meal. I noticed people setting up in the restaurant window just a few days earlier. We decided to give it a try. We got lucky and were seated at the four stool bar, as everyone else who stepped in appeared to have made reservations. The restaurant’s seafood menu takes it’s influence from Japanese and French cuisine. This is a very nice place for sharing small plates and wine.

Life boils down to a series of choices. In this fantastic ad for Jim Beam, we see the many faces of the man Willem Dafoe could’ve been. I almost want a glass of Jim Beam now, but not as much as I want to share this commercial. Agency: Strawberry Frog, Director: Dante Ariola.

I’ve yet to figure out if the Sytheseizer 76 app for the iPad is actually a functioning product or just an interaction design test. Either way, it has me excited. I might have to settle for the Korg iMS20 for just $15.

Steven Grasse has long been a unique voice in the world of advertising and branding. Maybe its because he operates out of my hometown of Philly, but its much more likely for his punk rock ethos that I’ve admired his approach. He’s the guy that would rather give a finger to Madison Ave suits than accept their awards. And while other companies have talked big circles about the importance of intellectual property, Grasse has actually been out there doing it for years - creating culture. And now he’s applied his rock and roll attitude to something else, projects dedicated to sustainable and local ways of doing business. More specifically, farming, making alcohol and advocating for the arts. Hear him talk about his trajectory here. I need to work with this man.

Dead Drops is a clever experiment. The project sees USB flash drives to be used for peer to peer file-sharing cemented into nooks and crannies of some very unsuspecting public spaces. Users can deposit files, take files or just look and see what they find.

The world of advertising is filled with clever and talented people. For years, I’ve seen countless award winning commercials and wondered where they had been broadcast. They certainly weren’t on my TV. At a time in which the airline industry can barely stop itself from infuriating it’s customers, Delta Airlines have launched a simply beautiful campaign. For the first time in ages, I find my eyes glued to the screen for a commercial and its whenever I see one of these new black & white ads for Delta. I had to know who was making them; I had a hunch. And I was correct. The agency is Wieden & Kennedy. The director is Mark Romanek and the cinematographer is Harris Savides.

Let this be a reminder to corporations that are socially and environmentally unsound. It is not wise to hire counter-culture street artists to do the greenwashing for you. These kinds of campaigns will fail you every time. Truth and morality makes for better business.

From the 1940s-70s, the in-house design department of Swiss chemical and pharmaceutical company, Geigy produced brilliant works that were both beautiful and clearly communicative. Much of this work has been recently compiled in a book. I’ve never wanted to line my cabinets and shelves with chemical packaging so badly.

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 will see the phasing out of traditional incandescent light bulbs beginning in 2012. But there really is no reason to wait until then to be more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. I can’t wait to get my hands on some of these new Plumen bulbs by the clever designers at Hulger.